Tier 4 finds the decidedly bad but not unwatchable movies of the year. And since 2020 had us all locked inside with very little to do, it's more than likely we found ourselves lowering our standards for some cheap entertainment. Which is probably why this is 2020's largest tier. We were all like a kid staying home sick from school, channel surfing day time television for the least worst options. And nothing says least worst daytime television like Maury.
#74. Bloodshot
I'm honestly not sure the last time I sought out a solo Vin Diesel venture. A Man Apart maybe? That Riddick movie where he killed a guy with a coffee mug? Anyways, something about this trailer lured me in and honestly the direction is pretty captivating. The action sequences are slick and the Bloodshot universe seems pretty ripe for material. However, the dialogue and overly convoluted plot of Bloodshot's manufactured revenge weighs this down almost as much as Vin Diesel's wooden performance. How in the hell is this guy still leading wannabe tent-pole movies like this? Add in the fact that there's no solid villain for Bloodshot to test his mercenary abilities against and you've got a pretty corny origin story that desperately wants to be the tough guy equivalent of Deadpool but ends up having way more in common with Spawn.
#73. Fatman
You'd think a dark and gritty portrait of a real world Santa Claus being hunted down by a snotty, naughty list, rich kid's hitman would be a lot more fun than this. But somehow Fatman spends so much time setting up the backdrop for where this story takes place that the plot itself feels forgotten and underdeveloped. Even worse yet, the world building at hand is less than stellar - omitting a lot of the details for how Mel Gibson's Santa works and instead settling on a military buy-out subplot seemingly just to give Walton Goggins' hitman character a higher body count to blast through. But the Goggins' character eats up way too much screen time and as insane as the premise is, the film never fully embraces the b-movie persona that should make this something of a cult classic. Instead, it's just a quirky missed opportunity.
#72. Sonic the Hedgehog
I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie. If anything, the biggest thing holding this movie back is that it feels about a decade too late. But the whole premise of dropping Sonic into the real world to befriend James Marsden is just way too lame to get invested in. And Sonic's the fastest thing on the planet, why spend half the movie riding in a fucking car? The humor is surprisingly not terrible, but the plot itself definitely is. And try as he may, Jim Carrey's role as the cartoonish villain really only serves as a painful reminder of how far this comedic genius has fallen. Maybe they'll get the tone right for the inevitable sequel but for now, if your kids don't force this on you, there's nothing you'll miss out on by assuming it's as bad as the trailers looked.
Check Out Our List of the Top 10 Video Games Adaptations (that will probably never get made but kinda should)
#71. The Old Guard
I'm all for turning Charlize Theron into Hollywood's next big action star but she deserves better material than this. The Old Guard is so desperate in it's obvious plea to become a ready-made franchise that it feels more like a failed television pilot than a self contained action film. Horrific dialogue, empty characters and worst of all the action itself is far from compelling. Hopefully we get an Atomic Blonde sequel before we have to revisit this bland Assassin's Creed clone but I doubt it.
#70. The New Mutants
Two and a half years after it's initial release date of April 13, 2018; the final film of Fox's X-Men franchise is FINALLY upon us. And it was in no way worth the wait. Essentially a Dream Warriors rip off with mutant teens fighting a CGI bear instead of sleep deprived 80's kids fighting Freddy Krueger; New Mutants is dying to be different but can't decide how or why. The bland cast, riddled with horrific accents, fails to fill out a film in desperate need of personality. Not enough character to pull off the young adult angle, not enough suspense to pull off the horror; all while trampling the integrity of the source material making this a pretty pointless experiment in alternative franchise building methods.
#69. The Craft: Legacy
I actually just watched the 1995 original for the first time this fall and while there's plenty of room for improvement, Legacy fails to capitalize on those shortcomings and instead introduces a whole new batch of it's own. The mind numbing barrage of nu hippie woke-ness is pretty grating on it's own but the film completely bottoms out when it devolves into a full blown gender swapped Twilight knock off with David Duchovny squaring off in an abysmal CGI showdown. Seeing Fairuza Balk make a surprise return in the closing moments did kind of save it from being TOTALLY unremarkable though. But a fan service cameo can't be the highlight of your film. Who do you think you are, Marvel?
#68. Trolls: World Tour
The first Trolls outing was a surprisingly fun and harmless 90 minutes but this follow up is unbelievably forced and underdeveloped. Hiding under a barrage of trite musical numbers and a well intentioned but under cooked message about inclusion, this sequel is all sparkle and no substance. And the worst part is, the music it leans so heavily on is pretty mediocre. I love Anderson Paak but his original songs here are entirely forgettable, especially stacked up next to the original film's anthemic "Can't Stop the Feeling".
#67. The Midnight Sky
An interesting enough premise that goes absolutely nowhere, The Midnight Sky finds director George Clooney at his most ambitious yet but unfortunately the scattered script and 2 dimensional characters trapped within it make this little more than a visual effects spectacle. Especially the subplot in space. The film moves at a crawl once Clooney heads out into the arctic wilderness and somehow even slower on the space station which manages to waste David Oyelowo, Felicity Jones, and Kyle Chandler entirely.
#66. On The Rocks
I can't believe anything with Rashida Jones, Bill Murray, and Jenny Slate could be this boring. The film moves at a snail's pace with all too familiar characters and even more familiar story lines. The beaten path of the bored suspicious housewife wrongly suspecting her husband is well worn territory and Coppola adds absolutely nothing new to the recipe. When even Bill Murray can't breathe life into your midlife dramedy, you know you've got issues. Sofia Coppola's attempt to recapture the lonely aura of her biggest hit, Lost in Translation, and apply it to this underdeveloped father/daughter duo comes up massively short.
#65. Greenland
Greenland isn't a terrible disaster movie. But maybe watching a dramatized global crisis in 2020 just feels much less exhilarating than it normally would. Plus, the bloated 2 hour runtime is entirely unnecessary as are the onslaught of obstacles Gerard Butler's family encounters on their way to safety. We've seen this movie a hundred times before and the b-level CGI effects don't offer enough eye candy to help the audience overlook the bare bones story line.
#64. Charm City Kings
Barry Jenkins has risen to the place where I'll watch just about anything he's involved with but Charm City Kings feels like a ripe concept, not fully realized. This coming of age story set in the harsh streets of Baltimore is a familiar vehicle with a fresh coat of paint and just enough charm from it's cast to make it watchable. All of the tragic decisions can be seen coming a mile away and even though you could pretty well guess how the film will go from the opening twenty minutes - the young cast make it a tolerable ride.
#63. The Gentlemen
I've never really been a huge Guy Ritchie fan, but this impressive cast he's assembled for his return to the gangster genre was more than enough to grab my attention. Sadly though, the group isn't really tasked with doing much more than filling out tough guy stereotypes and calling each other cunts every 40 seconds. Even worse, the construct of going through the story as it's being retold by Hugh Grant makes things move unbelievably slowly. It's so dry and uneventful that by the time the climax finally hits, the segmented delivery of the narrative has evaporated any suspense from the proceedings whatsoever.
#62. Random Acts of Violence
Actor turned screenwriter, Jay Baruchel, returns with his latest offering in this tale of a graphic novelist tracing the footsteps of his murderous real life inspiration in order to find a fitting ending to his long running comic series. Baruchel's directorial style is still a bit crude and unrefined, with a strong focus on vivid lighting and slow motion murder sequences rather than building any kind of character development or suspense along the way. There are tidbits of interesting exposition to chew on but they don't feel fully fleshed out in Baruchel's inexperienced hands. The entire proceedings wreak of amateurism, squandering what could have been an interesting exploration of the glamorization of violence in media and turning it into a cheap, neon slasher.
#61. Mank
David Fincher hasn't given us a new film since 2014's Gone Girl, so to say this was one of my most highly anticipated movies of the year is an understatement. And while Fincher does an incredible job recreating the period, it's the painfully dry script by David's late father Jack that really holds this back. There's no real conflict and no progression by any of the characters, just a glorified behind the scenes recreation of the circumstances under which Citizen Kane was written; but without any of the nuance or personality of old Hollywood classics like Ed Wood, Who Framed Roger Rabbit or L.A. Confidential. It looks fantastic but it's painfully boring. Easily Fincher's worst film since Benjamin Button and a guaranteed cure for insomnia.
#60. Downhill
I'd watch the duo of Julia-Louis Dreyfus and Will Ferrell in just about anything. But this oddly toned dramedy that ultimately boils down to a married couple's fight over a cell phone addiction is incredibly melodramatic. And the comedic elements are painfully sparse considering the talent involved here. The entire film feels like a missed opportunity of underdeveloped themes, both dramatic and comedic. We never get to the root of Ferrell's detachment from his family nor provide any real repair of their relationship which renders the entire experience altogether pointless.
#59. Tenet
In a film that's sole purpose seems to be mind fucking it's audience, Tenet feels as if director Christopher Nolan is actually the one who's in over his head most. A confounding narrative structure paired with an overly dramatic synth score and an over the top performance from Kenneth Branagh attempt to overcompensate for the film's lack of excitement and surprisingly flat action sequences. But ultimately the film just feels like a loud, jumbled mess which even when pieced together, doesn't make up for how taxing taking it all in can be. It's so dense that it collapses in on top of itself. If this film didn't have Nolan's name attached to it, it'd be getting dragged as a b-level Inception wannabee. Tenet is to Inception what Swordfish is to the Matrix. A hollow exercise in logistical gymnastics posing as something much deeper than it actually is, hoping the audience will power through for a pay off that never comes based on a trust earned from previous accomplishments. A trust that's slowly fading.
Check Out Our List of The Top 10 Christopher Nolan Films
#58. Greyhound
Tom Hanks has been in some incredible war films but Greyhound pales in comparison in just about every regard. Hanks himself plays a fairly stoic, un-charismatic Navy Commander among a sea of unmemorable characters watching bad CGI waves and explosions. There's very little in terms of action and even less to unpack when it comes to the overall story. The limited setting and even more limited characters make for an extremely bland and at times, outright boring viewing experience. The script, penned by Hanks himself, is just painfully dry. It's hard to see this getting made without Hanks attaching himself in the lead role.
#57. The Hunt
Other than the occasional outburst of chaos of a real life Fortnite round brought to fruition, The Hunt seems to crumble under the pressure of it's own hype. The social commentary isn't nearly as clever as it seems to think it is and as a result the entire proceedings can't help but feel like a cheap imitation of The Purge mixed with Ready or Not, masquerading as the next Jordan Peele experience. But again, the somewhat spastic exposition makes for a passably enjoyable surface level game of survival despite its' heavy handed Orwellian references and under cooked political implications.
#56. Run
Searching director Aneesh Chaganty returns with another episodic thriller, this time without the unique packaging of unraveling the mystery from the perspective of a computer screen. And while Run is effective enough, it's not all that captivating. Like a serviceable entry into a long running anthology, Run is mostly filler. Not great, not terrible - disposable, fast food entertainment. Sarah Paulson does her best to elevate the material with her villainous portrayal but without a whole lot of depth until the final reveal, it's tough to invest in her "too little too late" backstory.
#55. The Babysitter: Killer Queen
While I didn't love the original, I definitely appreciate McG's re-emergence as an over the top, crude adolescent fantasy director. And even though you'd think a sequel would suffer from the lack of it's titular character (the incredible Samara Weaving, who's relegated to hardly more than a cameo here) McG somehow unloads even more slapstick horror/comedy fun. Cheap laughs, gruesome kills and a mindlessly enjoyable way to kill 100 minutes. The ending went a little too far with retcon-ing the original story and a couple jokes that missed the mark entirely (specifically when Cole pisses on his romantic interest, Phoebe) but overall it's actually much better than it had any right to be. A low brow horror-comedy guilty pleasure.
#54. The King of Staten Island
After introducing Hollywood to a whole new generation of comedy with his breakout directorial debut, The 40 Year Old Virgin, it's hard to believe this is only Judd Apatow's sixth film in the director's chair. And after seeing Big Time Adolescence earlier this year, I was really hoping that Judd was about to launch Pete Davidson into the same stratosphere he did with Seth Rogen or Amy Schumer previously. But unfortunately The King of Staten Island is a tonal mess, as lost and aimless as it's protagonist. The opening is standard fair for an Apatow dramedy but when the film tries to transform Davidson, the growth feels completely unearned and unbelievable. It's as if you can feel Judd realizing, "oh shit, we need to wrap this up somehow", leading to an all too convenient feel-good ending. At 2 hours, the film drags quite a bit for comedy and yet still somehow seems to rush to the finish line.
#53. An American Pickle
As absurd a concept as a man preserving himself for 100 years in pickle juice might be, I gotta hand it to Seth Rogen, he absolutely sells the dual role aspect of this film. His performances are pretty outstanding, especially as the old world Herschel. Kicking things off with some predictable fish out of water comedy as Herschel is forced to adjust to modern times, we then dive into dissecting the class disparity between the early 1900's work ethic juxtaposed against his millennial counterpart Ben. All of which makes for a fairly harmless comedy until the story wanders into religious territory. From there the film completely unravels and ends what could have been a surprisingly funny look at class disparity with a confused message about family and faith above all else despite the two family members at the center of the story spending the majority of the film turning on one another time after time...
#52. The Witches
Anyone who's kept up with Robert Zemeckis over the past several years shouldn't be surprised to see that he's created yet another exhibition of lifeless CGI infused into a classic well known tale. Not that the 1990 version of The Witches is a masterpiece by any means, but this time I'd say Zemeckis ALMOST improved upon the original. Except for replacing the Jim Henson practical effects of The Witches themselves, which were absolutely breath taking - especially the design of the High Witch. But here, the effects are far worse than the 25 year old predecessor and sour the biggest moments in an otherwise improved upon adaptation. And when are we going to get passed giving every villain 11,000 CGI teeth? Other than that though, Anne Hathaway as an over the top villain is actually pretty great.
#51. First Cow
Between the A24 stamp of approval and the barrage of critical acclaim being heaped in it's direction, I powered through First Cow despite nothing on screen really enticing me to do so. It's not bad, just incredibly stark and straight forward. Grounded in realism to a fault. So slow that it feels like the events are unfolding in real time. And while I appreciate the industrialization message underneath it all, this was an absolute chore to finish. I honestly think it took 3 tries. But I made it! I plowed through and just like when I finished the Mandalorian I thought - this is what everyone's raving about? That was it?
#50. Arkansas
Clark Duke's dirty south drug odyssey has it's subtle moments of charm but for the most part, bites off way more than it can chew. The winding narrative is way too slow and long-winded for how little actually happens during the 2 hour runtime and it's characters and dialogue aren't nearly as witty and endearing as Duke seems to think they are. There are definitely glimpses of promise for the actor turned director but his dimwitted heroes could have done with a little more depth instead of spending so much time with Vince Vaughn's played out kingpin.
#49. Ava
Looking at his resume, Tate Taylor has had quite a broad range of films under his belt. And while I applaud the director for trying to tackle something new each time out, his black ops assassin thriller sorely lacks in the action department. The damaged family drama is much more captivating than anything Jessica Chastain does on the action front, which holds this film back a great deal. Ava boasts an incredible cast of intriguing characters, but the poorly executed action sequences and anticlimactic ending leave a lot to be desired.
#48. Unhinged
While it doesn't quite nail the social commentary of Falling Down or the terror of Joy Ride, Unhinged is a harmless lazy afternoon redbox road thriller. Russell Crowe in a fat suit makes for the perfect guy in traffic you don't want to fuck with but outside of that, there's not much else here. Unhinged tries to make some grand societal statement in it's choppy opening credits but overall, this is just a silly revenge slasher. There's no reason for Crowe to be as unhinged as he is and yet he's convincingly menacing nonetheless.
#47. The Dark and the Wicked
The Strangers' Bryan Bertino delivers a melancholy supernatural family drama with an unrelenting atmosphere emphasized by it's impeccable score from Tom Schraeder. Very similar to this year's Relic, The Dark and the Wicked tackles a deteriorating family and the rippling effects of the trauma that can follow. However, as great as the set up is, the finale lacks the knock out punch to put this film completely over. Bad CGI and self mutilation doesn't quite pay off all the eerie build up that precedes it. But keep an eye out for Marin Ireland who delivers an absolute breakout performance in the lead.
View the Rest of the 2020 Tiers Here:
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